Impulsive Mulan
by AirgeadAgusFionn
Summary: Keith was tired. Dog tired, to say the least. So he guessed that was why he cut something that he may have regretted when Lance had begun to taunt him over the same thing that he'd taunted him over a thousand times. His hair.


**This was in my draughts for a lot longer than I'd like so I just wanted it posted. I am a terrible writer and I am sorry not sorry. Plus I am not good at writing relationships so have pining klance instead with a little love for Keith from Red bc I love that shizzle.**

 **Enjoy this totally self indulging fic and keep in mind I didn't really plan on posting in the first place so it's probably... meh.**

* * *

Keith was tired. Dog tired, to say the least. But could he sleep? Of course not. For two reasons. One, it was the middle of the day… quintent.

And the other?

Lance was being Lance.

On one of the other couches, Shiro and Pidge sat, watching the the argument that was taking place. Could he not get five minutes rest?

"They have to have smoke machines in space!" Lance said, creasing his eyebrows at him, and wasn't it sad that he was used to this one of Lance's expression being directed at him, "I'm gonna get one!" he said, matter-of-factedly. "And guess what I found out?"

"That the universe doesn't revolve around you?" he guessed bitterly. Behind them, Pidge let out a snort of laughter.

Lance narrowed his eyes. "Ha, ha. No." He turned his attention to the others, "There are a few planets that have earth-like machines. That means possible smoke machines," he grumbled the last part towards Keith.

Keith sighed against his palm. Lance was in his space again, and it was way too early to deal with this. He had spent most of the night training after he couldn't sleep… again.

It wasn't like he chose not to sleep. It was his nightmares. They were comming more often and he didn't even know why. Images of Shiro leaving again. Images of them defeating Zarkon, but at a bigger price than he was willing to pay.

"We can't just invest in a smoke machine," Keith said instead of thinking too much about the dreams.

"Why not?"

A sigh came from the couch. "Lance, I don't think we need one," Shiro said, raising an eyebrow at them. His eyes were tired and had bags underneath, and it was obvious that he was contemplating why they were eve having this conversation in the first place. Keith was the same. "What would it even do?"

Lance huffed. "Lots of things. For one, it would get rid of Keith because he doesn't want smoke messing up his mullet."

Pidge snickered from their point on the couch. "Not sure that's what you'd want, Lance."

Lance glared at them.

Keith tightened his fists from where his arms were crossed over his chest. Why did Lance even want a smoke machine? They were just for show, and they didn't even need it.

"Lance, we are not getting a smoke machine," Keith said, pushing Lance back out of his space. He was too close, and they've been arguing for a while now. Probably half a varga wasted.

"Yeah?" Lance asked, batting Keith's hand away from his chest. He walked back up to him and shot daggers through his eyes.

"Yeah," Keith answered, crossing his arms, not swerving at how Lance was in his face again. Why must Lance always be so stubborn with him? He only wanted to get it because Keith had mentioned that he didn't like smoke!

He didn't even mean that kind of smoke. He meant the smoke from an actual fire that stung your nostrils and the back of your throat.

"Why not?"

Keith threw his hands up. "Because It's ridiculous!"

"Yeah, it'll match your mullet then!" Lance poked at his chest. Hard.

What was Lance's obsession with his mullet all the time?! It's almost as if he was always picking him out because of it. Besides, it wasn't even a mullet. It was long at the sides too, just that small bit longer at the back. But if he was going to choose to be rude about it, then so be it.

Keith felt his gaze harden and his fists tightened, nails digging into the palms of his hands. "Fine. So you don't like my hair."

"I think that much was expected!" Lance said, flinging his arms out in the typical Lance Manner.

"Lance," Shiro said, looked between them.

Keith pushed past Lance, catching a glance at his shocked face as he stormed out the door, almost as if he wasn't expecting him to snap from months of them arguing, and months of Lance insulting his hair in every fight.

Keith wished he could say he wasn't surprised. It's what Lance wanted.

When he reached the hangar with Red, he felt the happy thrum in the back of his mind, almost as if she was purring.

She bent down and let him into her cockpit. Keith climbed up the ramp, and he knew he was being ridiculous. He knew he was acting on adrenaline.

He didn't act well with people. All those foster homes, those years waiting to just become eighteen so he could get out of the shit system.

Shiro was the only one who didn't give up on him, and Keith couldn't thank him enough for that. He became less known as the 'problem child' and more 'good friend to my grandson'. Soon enough, he was going home with Shiro more evenings than not, and his grandmother had actually liked him. He had grown alot from the child he was, and became a great pilot with a scholarship to Galaxy Garrison.

But still, that didn't mean anything to Lance.

Red's happy purr soon turned concerned as she felt his anger stirring in his veins.

What happened?

Are you hurt?

Who hurt you?

She was getting restless, Keith knew it. With their bonded connection, her emotions filled him like water.

The concern didn't ride out his anger though. He reached behind his head and gathered his hair into a ponytail and tied it off. He unsheathed his knife and in one swipe, he cut his hair.

Keith watched as his soft dark hair fell to Red's floor, making a small pile of black against the white metal.

He did it.

And he couldn't find himself regretting it.

Red was making a loud thrum in his ear, surprised and angry at him. A billion questions and demanding tones came at him at once, not all were Red's.

Why did he do that?

Why the quiznak did you cut your hair off?!

Even Keith didn't know. He looked at his knife that was still clenched in his hand, the way it glinted off the artificial lights of the cockpit. The light caught in his eyes, dulled blue and red, but he still wondered.

Red light shone on his arms from behind him. Was the screen starting up?

"Red?" Keith asked, turning around in time for the screen to go clear and show outside of the white and red walls. The hangar was basked in a red glow that seemed to go up the walls, glowing and casting red light across the walls of inside Red's cockpit. Two small waves washed up the red wall in a mesmerising way, like somebody had knocked twice.

It was Red's particle barrier, surrounding them in a safe shield.

"What the… Red?"

Red had felt his need to be alone, and want to be away from Lance.

Lance was at the edge of the particle barrier, knocking on the side of it. "Keith!"

Keith felt himself tense up despite being inside Red. Stop, weak. It's just words, what is wrong with you. Fucking cut off your hair because of some words?!

Keith's face crumbled. Yeah. He cut off his hair because of a bunch of words. Red sent Keith a wave of warmth and reassurance. Keith melted against the comfort.

Weak.

The purring grew louder against Keith's thoughts. Keith smiled and couldn't help but slump into the pilot's seat. "Good kitty," he said, closing his eyes over.

"Keith! I know you're in there! Please!"

A low growl rumbled through the cockpit, and Keith cracked open an eye for long enough to see Lance jump back from the warning with a guilty and sad expression. He may have been more than a few feet above ground level, and Lance was far away, but Red had a pretty good picture.

The statistics and Altean words that were usually at the edges of the screen kept changing, but had a comforting pattern, and hell if he didn't even know why most of them were even there.

Red continued purring, as if him being awake wasn't right. And it wasn't. As much as Lance was sorry, and how much Keith knew he'd forgive him because it wasn't his fault he cut all his hair off, really. It wasn't Lance's fault, Keith was the one who snapped in an argument, and they've had many arguments before.

He was just tired.

With Red's purring lulling in his ear, he was reminded just how little sleep he had gotten over the past two weeks.

A faint ringing came from the screen, and he felt Red growl again.

Keith reopened his eyes and saw Lance's face on the screen in a smirk with finger guns. The image had a green and a red comm button under it.

Lance was calling him from Blue.

Keith had to bite back a groan of annoyance. Could he not get five minutes?

His finger hovered over the reject option, but he couldn't bring himself to press down on the screen. He mulled over what would happen if he would answer. Lance would see his hair.

…Keith hadn't even seen his own hair.

He reached up and pulled at the dark strands. They were shorter than usual, and it felt wierd. Even the sides were shorter than usual. He probably looked like Lance's hair.

Lance always teased him about his hair, but he didn't notice his own fringe was uneven…

Actually, it could look like a Shiro/Lance mix? Short at the back but still long at the front? Red purred reassuringly at him.

A warmth settled in his chest. "Red, give him audio."

Red gave a confused trill, but did as he asked while still staying on guard. Was he really that bad if Red was being extra caring?

The sound cackled to life, and Lance's voice cleared out.

"Oh my god, Keith?"

Keith closed him eyes and hummed in response. "Yeah?"

"What happened? You just ran off and when I followed you Red just put up her particle barrier. You okay, man?"

A long breath left his lips. "Yeah."

There was a moment of silence on the comm. "So you going to let me up or…"

Red gave a low growl that reverberated through the cockpit.

Keith didn't really want Lance to see him. He didn't even know if his hair was sliced or completely butchered, or what if he makes a comment on his new appearance?

Keith found himself holding his breath and his vision became blurred. Red sent a large wave of warmth to him. Oh god, he probably looked pathetic to her.

The lion growled angrily at him for that.

Guess she'd never do that then.

"Keith?"

Oh. "Yeah. Sure." A feeling of shock flooded him from Red's end. "I'll be fine girl," he patted his dashboard, voice pitched low enough for only Red to hear.

Red still had an air of uncertainty about her so Keith added, "If you feel it necessary, you can eject him out."

Keith doubted she would, but she gave him no reply.

Outside, the red walls slowly started deteriorating, so Keith took that as a fine. Down in the hangar Lance was running from the direction of where Blue was usually kept.

Red moved her head down and opened up to let Lance in. The blue paladin ran up the ramp, and Keith brought his knees into his chest as he watched Red straighten up once again, footsteps echoing outside the cockpit.

"Keith!"

Keith was hidden by the chair still, and he was glad for it. Red made a small sound that only he heard, and he tried to take a breath.

"You okay, man? I didn't really think you would actually think- what the hell?"

Keith closed his eyes and sighed, his hand tightening around his knife.

Keith opened his eyes after a few seconds of silence, letting his eyes trail down to the locks of black hair on the cockpit floor. His hair. He knew Lance had seen it.

"What...what did you do?" The voice that asked the question was quiet, almost shaky. A far cry from Lance's usual tone.

Suddenly, Keith felt a twinge of nervousness spread through him. What would Lance say? Would he be smug about it?

No, Keith told himself. Don't be stupid.

Red let out a low growl, it's vibrations causing his legs to shake. She could sense his agitation.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Keith stood up and walked around the chair to face Lance. He tried to keep his face deadpan and forced himself not to look away.

Lance's face conveyed a flurry of emotions as he looked at Keith. Confusion. Realisation. Shock. And something unidentifiable.

"I cut my hair," Keith said eventually, as both a way to break the silence and an answer to the previous question. He was surprised at how even and firm his voice came out, threatening to break at one point but thankfully didn't.

"Why did you do that?!" Lance practically shouted, his eyes wide.

"What's the problem?" Keith replied, anger suddenly flaring up. This is what Lance wanted. "You're always saying that my mullet was stupid."

"I...I didn't mean-I didn't want you to actually cut your hair!" Lance was visibly upset about this, but Keith didn't get why. "I was just joking around!"

"Could've fooled me," he snapped, "What was I supposed to do? Leave it, so that you could continue to drag out the same 'joke'? I was getting tired of it!'' He said it in a rush, barely even thinking about the words coming out if his mouth.

In front of him, Lance stood with his jaw hanging slightly open.

After what seemed to be minutes, Lance finally set his gaze, "You crazy asshole," he breathed, taking a step foward.

Keith crossed his arms and glared fire at him, not reacting to Red as she growled again. Well, if this was the way he wanted to play it, then so it is. "Don't even bother."

Lance shook his head sadly, glancing at Keith. His eyes flicked up to Keith's hair for a second before returning to Keith's burning, purple eyes.

"Your hair looks even more ridiculous than before."

Keith blinked at him. "Well, how the fuck am I supposed to fix that?"

Lance flinched and tilted his head slightly. He muttered to himself, seemingly to think for a moment. Finally, he looked up. "Actually, I can."

Keith unclenched his jaw and raised an eyebrow.

"Well… I mean I used to have my mom cut my hair, and then she passed it onto my sister when she had kids, and then my sister let me cut Eterio's hair a few times."

Keith rolled his eyes. "Was there a point to all this?" he asked, even though with a sinking feeling he guessed where he was going with it.

"I could cut your hair. My brother had a hair cut like this at one point… kind of?" Lance said, stepping foward again to reach up and feel Keith's hair. Keith swatted his hand away

"No."

Lance pouted. "Come on. You should see your hair… like honestly-" he trailed off once he saw Keith's murderous glare.

Well, if Lance cut his hair, he guessed if he teased him about it he was really just teasing his own hair cutting skills. "You have one try," Keith finally said, smirking at him.

Lance furrowed his eyebrows nervously at the smirk.

Still, he seemed pretty… chipper about the prospect of cutting Keith's hair. Red purred at him in amusement and deep setted protectiveness. Keith smiled.

Okay, he was pretty fond of Red too.

* * *

Keith looked in the mirror Lance gave to him. They were back in Lance's room, bottles of conditioner and face masks or other lined the shelves around the room… and it looked far more lived in than Keith's room.

Keith tilted his head.

His hair was still long at the fringe but no longer had the tuft at the back of his head. His hair was uneven and looked slashed with the closest sharp thing within range… and it kinda was.

"Okay, Pidge had a pair of scissors for some reason, but I won't question them," Lance said re-entering the room. Keith looked up at him, eyes furrowing at the pair of bright green scissors in his hand.

Lance smiled at him and a twinkle became known in his eyes. Lance was planning something.

Keith just sighed as he sat on the office chair Lance had. "Just do it so I can get back to…" Keith paused. What was he doing? Oh, "flying Red."

Red purred in agreement in his head.

Lance scoffed, "Seriously? Where would you fly? We're in the middle of space. There's nothing here."

There was the Lance he knew. Keith rolled his eyes as the scissors started to click. "I'll be polishing Red then. She got a few dents from that asteroid attack a few missions back."

Red seemed confused at the change, but was still content with being polished up.

Keith smiled at her.

"What you smiling at?" Lance asked, moving to cut a bit at the sides. He wrinkled his nose a bit. "When was the last time you had a hair cut?"

Keith blinked and Lance continued snipping away. Keith watched as his hair fell to Lance's floor. No going back.

He couldn't really say that the last time he had a hair cut was before the Kerberos mission. It wasn't like he could get it cut in the middle of the desert.

Still, it wasn't odd having a haircut now. It was almost welcoming.

Almost.

He wasn't used to the snipping of scissors so close to him.

After a while, the scissors clicks came to the sides. Keith couldn't help but jump slightly as the metal skimmed past the skin of his ear.

"If you jump like that I will actually cut your ear off. I don't want a Van Gogh moment right now," Lance warned, clearly trying to stay focused.

Keith bit back the urge to say that if someone wasn't being a little too free-handed with the scissors, then he wouldn't be jumping.

"Sorry," he mumbled instead.

A few more seconds of Lance work going uninterrupted passed before the scissors were finally put down on the drawer.

"Done!" he announced proudly.

Keith let out a shaky breath, not realising that he'd been holding it in for a while. He moved to find a mirror of some sort, but froze in his seat.

"What are you doing, now?" he tried to swat Lance's hands away as they moved his hair around.

"Keep still! I'm trying to make it look good," was the hissed reply that he received. Keith mentally shrugged and obeyed.

After a few more torturous seconds of Lance attempting to make his hair look like the cover of some magazine, a compact mirror was stuck in front of Keith's face.

"What d'ya think?"

Keith stared at his reflection for a moment; manoeuvring the mirror to examine his hair.

His fringe was still quite long, but had been slightly trimmed. At the sides, it was cut following Keith's original disastrous slices. This meant that it got shorter and shorter until both sides reached the back of his head, where the hair had been cut so much that if had it been shaved it would have practically been an undercut.

It looked the smallest bit like Shiro's, but still long at the top… like an emo? He still didn't know how he looked like an emo so he guessed he still did.

Pidge had told him once when they were sitting in a comfortable silence on the couch that he looked so emo. Keith had just begun to argue but they just raised an eyebrow at him over their computer as if to say 'they always deny it at first.'

Still, he had to admit it was actually kind of nice. A great improvement on whatever it was he'd done himself.

He turned to face Lance, who looked between nervous and confident. His face seeming to say 'hell yes I didn't mess it up but oh god what if he hates it.'

A small smile found its way onto Keith's face. "I like it."

Lance's face visibly brightened and he smiled, "Yes!" he pumped a fist into the air, "I knew you'd like it!"

Keith couldn't hold back the small smile at Lance's victory dance.

Yeah, he was a dork. A cute dork.

Wait.

No. Nope, he did not just think that.

Lance directed his smile at him. "Come on, we have to show the others. Pidge mainly."

Keith was grabbed by the hand and rushed out the door. His mind lagged at the Pidge part. "Why?"

Lance kept running, hand still gripping his. "Because you finally got rid of the- I- I mean this is my best work yet. Ask Pidge, I once tried to cut their hair at the Garrison."

Keith blinked.

Okay?

Lance stopped abruptly in the corridor and Keith ran into his back. As he glanced around Lance's form he saw Pidge standing there, eyebrow raised in confusion.

"Wha-"

"What happened to Keith?" they cut Lance off, trudging up to Keith and stood on their toes to poke a hand at Keith's head.

Lance smiled awkwardly, "I uh, cut his hair."

Pidge glanced at him, "Why would you do that?"

"He went all Mulan on it with his knife and I tried to fix it! I think I did pretty good with it, you know, with the small chance I'd mess up."

What?!

Pidge nodded approvingly, "It looks good… but it's kinda wierd seeing you without the mullet."

Keith shrugged at them. That was a compliment… sort of.

He'd take it as a compliment.

Pidge trudged past them, making their way towards the observation deck. A moment of silence left in their wake as Lance and Keith glanced up from their retreating back to each other. Lance shuffled on his feet, entangling his hands together with what Keith could guess was nerves.

Lance finally sighed and looked up. "Look, Keith," Keith snapped his eyes up from Lance fiddling hands and furrowed a brow. Lance's face looked serious and so far from the light aired expression from minutes before. "Not that your new hair doesn't suit you or make you totally hot and all but I am sorry."

Keith drew a blank. Was… there a compliment in there as well?

"All those times I teased your hair I was just messing but I guess I went too far?"

Oh. Right.

Keith raised an eyebrow and fought to keep the growing smirk off his face. "Are you asking me or telling me?" He was proud at how he managed to keep his voice deadpan despite the amusement.

Lance groaned but the effect was lost with the smile. "I'm trying to apologise here, don't sass me."

Keith had to fight harder against smirking. "Guess Pidge has really grown on me."

"Nope, Shiro told me you were always sassy."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "He did?"

Lance smiled at him, wide and bright realising that Keith had no hard feelings. "Yep. Didn't believe him then but now I'm starting to."

Keith looked away to hide his smile. "Don't."

The sound of his heartbeat rang in his ears as he looked back up to Lance's face, which was showing way more fondness than Keith was used to from the blue paladin. Well, directed at him. He usually showed this to Hunk or Pidge even, but not him. Lance's eyes were blue and soft. Real soft. They were far too fond to be directed at Keith. Keith noticed a softness that wasn't usually there before.

After and moment Lance blinked and looked away. "So, yeah. Haircut, other… stuff? I gotta go," he said, and left suddenly leaving Keith standing in the hallway staring and the space he left.

Keith hated how he felt colder without him, but still stuck on the fond looks and the really blue eyes. He hated how the thought of the fondness being directed at him made a warmth spread in his chest and through his veins feeding him more adrenaline. God, he hated how Lance looked at him all mushy.

Keith buried his head in his hands, already suspecting what he had for Lance. He wasn't going to say it but it was there, sending butterflies to his stomach.

"Wow. You are terrible at this."

Keith swung round, all previous thoughts flying from his head. Shiro stood there leaning against the wall.

He laughed at Keith's probably incredulous expression. "Relax. I won't tell Lance."

Keith's glare hardened. "Tell him what."

Shiro smiled innocently at him. "Nothing," he said and walked foward to pat a hand on his shoulder. Keith still glared.

"Exactly. Nothing."

"I might tell Pidge though. They'll have fun knowing their hunch was right."

Keith made an incoherent noise and grabbed for Shiro but he was too slow. His friend, sort-of brother, and leader of the Universe's Only Hope laughed and took off down the hallway in the direction the green paladin went in earlier. Keith sighed harshly and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Goddamn Shiro.


End file.
